pretty by the bay

Yesterday, I sat innocently on my couch, sipping coffee and reading blogs. It was your basic Tuesday morning until I read this post from Joy the Baker, who featured a rundown of her all time favorite cookie recipes. I was particularly intrigued by her preferred recipe for chocolate chip cookies. Bread flour? In a cookie? Really?

Yes. Really.

Now, we all have our preferences when it comes to chocolate chip cookies. I like mine to be slightly crisp on the outside, nice and chewy on the inside. No crunchy cookies. Absolutely no cake-like cookies. And as the name of the recipe implies, these cookies are indeed nice and chewy. Bread flour, melted butter and brown sugar come to together to create the perfect storm of chewy deliciousness. The dough is really quite interesting – substantially thinner than most recipes, and therefore requiring at least an hour of chill time in the fridge. Eventually, it comes together quite nicely, and this:

Becomes these:

(Needless to say, these cookies and the season premiere of Lost made for a pretty fantastic Tuesday night.)

I know many of us like to play around with recipes – substitute this, omit that – but believe me when I say that this recipe is perfect as-is. Use real butter. Use bread flour (even if you have to buy it – you can store it in the freezer and keep it for a long time). And invest in a spring-loaded scoop like this one, which really is an essential tool for scooping perfect rounds of dough that melt down into perfect rounds of cookie goodness. (I also strongly recommend a Sil Pat for this and any other cookie baking project, but parchment paper will do in a pinch.) Go on…get baking!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

adapted from Alton Brown; makes about 2 dozen

2 sticks unsalted butter
2 1/4 c bread flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 c sugar
1 1/4 c brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips or chocolate chunks

Melt the butter in a saucepan set over low heat. Sift or whisk the flour, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl, and set aside.

Pour the melted butter in the bowl of your stand mixer (or other large bowl if using a hand mixer). Add both the sugar and brown sugar and cream together on medium speed, until the mixture is smooth. Add the egg, egg yolk, milk and vanilla; mix until combined. Add the flour a bit at a time, mixing until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill the dough for at least one hour.

Heat the oven to 375. Line baking sheets with parchment or a Sil Pat. Use an ice cream scoop to shape and place balls of dough on to the prepared baking sheets. (The scoop I use holds approximately two tablespoons worth of dough, if you prefer to do things the old fashioned way.) The cookies will spread slightly; do not place more than 6 cookies on each sheet. Bake for 13 – 14 minutes or until golden brown, turning the sheet after 6 or 7 minutes to ensure the cookies brown evenly. Remove from oven and allow to cool on baking sheet for one minute, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.